BREAKING: Don Lemon pleads not guilty to St Paul church storming charges as supporters wave dildos to 'protect the press'

Ex-CNN host Don Lemon has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the January storming of a church service in St Paul, Minnesota. Outside the Minnesota courthouse, protestors were seen waving dildos and chanting "protect the press."

Lemon said outside the courthouse, "I want to just say, this isn’t about me. This is about all journalists, especially here in the United States. First off, I’d like to thank everyone again for their support. To my colleagues, countless journalists around the world, the Lemon Nation, my family and my friends, you all have showed up for me in a real way, and I am extremely grateful for that."

He continued, "For more than 30 years I’ve been a journalists, and the power and protection of the First Amendment has been the underpinning of my work." Lemon later added, "Like all of you here in Minnesota, the great people of Minnesota, I will not be intimidated. I will not back down. I will fight these baseless charges and I will not be silenced."

Lemon has been charged with Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship, and Injure, Intimidate, and Interfere with Exercise of Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship, both of which are felonies. He was arrested in late January in Los Angeles. 

The indictment against Lemon read, "Overt Act # 20: Defendant LEMON told his livestream audience about congregants leaving the Church and about a "young man" who LEMON could see was 'frightened,' 'scared,' and 'crying,' and LEMON observed that the congregants' reactions were understandable because the experience was 'traumatic and uncomfortable,' which he said was the purpose."

"Overt Act # 21: As the operation continued, defendant LEMON acknowledged the nature of it by expressing surprise that the police hadn't yet arrived at the Church, and admitted knowing that 'the whole point of [the operation] is to disrupt.'"

Lemon was charged over his involvement in an anti-ICE group that stormed a St Paul, Minnesota church because a pastor who works there also worked as the director of a nearby ICE office. Jerome Richardson, a Temple University student who has also been charged in the church storming, has said that he helped Lemon with "logistics and local contacts" while the former CNN host was there.